Tie plate chute



Jan. 10, 1961 o ss I 2,967,599

TIE PLATE CHUTE Filed NOV. 7, 1957 United States Patent TIE PLATE cmrrnFiled Nov. '1, 1951, Ser. No. 694,998 3 Claims. (Cl. 193-5 Thisinvention relates generally to chutes, and in particular to a portablechute adapted to be detachably secured to the side of a gondola railwaycar, or similar vehicle, for the purpose of unloading tie platestherefrom on to a railway track with a minimum of effort, and in a moreelficient manner than is prevalent at the present time.

The method of unloading tie plates in common use at present is for acrew of men to throw the tie plates from a gondola on to the shoulder ofrailroad bed, and then for a second crew to follow after, and throw themup between the rails, and it is an object of this invention to improveon this method by placing the plates between the rails in one operation,thus effecting a great saving in time and labour, and reduction inconstruction costs.

Another object of the invention is to provide a portable chute, adaptedto be detachably secured to the outside of a railway construction car,and formed to accommodate a tie plate in such manner that the plate willbe discharged on to the road bed between the rails.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a tie plate chutehaving detachable means for supporting said chute on a construction car,said chute having adjustable means to allow for variations in height orsize of the car.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention willappear more fully hereinafter from a consideration of the detaileddescription which follows, taken together with the accompanying drawingsas illustrated by way of example, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation view of a pair of tie plate chutes attached tothe side of a gondola construction car,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a chute showing attachment details.

Figure 3 is an enlarged elevational view of a chute taken at rightangles to Figure l, and

Figure 4 is a detail showing a wearing plate liner adapted to beinserted in a chute at the lower, or discharge end thereof.

Similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts in all thefigures of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, numeral 1 represents a gondola railwayconstruction car, having vertical side walls 2, floor 3, supported onwheels 4, shown in broken lines, rails 5 and railway tie 6.

Detachably secured to each side wall of the car are a plurality of tieplate chutes 7, and as the chutes are all identical, one only will bedescribed.

Chute 7 is formed of metal, preferably aluminum for lightness inhandling, having a rectangular box construction for the main part of itslength, and adapted to be detachably secured to the outside of thevertical wall 2 of the gondola, the lower, or discharge end 8 of thechute being curved inwardly to a point inside the rails, and beingsupported at a suflicient height to clear the rails. The lower portion 8of the chute is constructed having a base and two side walls, and openon the upper side to prevent jamming of the tie plates when beingdischarged.

, 2,957,599 Patented Jan. 10, .1961

The upper extremity 9 of the chute is bevelled in such manner that tieplates may be thrown into the chute from a distance with little fear ofmissing. Hanger brackets 10 are provided for detachably hanging thechute on a side wall of the gondola. The brackets are formed of flatstrap metal, and are assembled in pairs, and connected together byhinges 11 atthe rear of the chute, and having hooks 12 to engage aflange 13 on the upper portion of the gondola side wall.

Holes 14 are formed in the brackets to accommodate pairs of dowel pins15 which are formed'on the side walls of the chute, and are adapted toproject through the said holes. The brackets are retained tightly inposition on the chute by means of a spring hook 16. 4

The chute is provided with a plurality of dowel pins 15 at varyingdistances to allow for required adjustment in height. Spring hooks 17are provided in the vicinity of the curved portion of the chute toengage the lower portion of the gondola side wall to retain the chute inengagement with the said side wall.

A' spacing bracket, or bumper 18 is secured to the chute and adapted tobear against the outside of the gondola side wall to align said chutetherewith. In order to eliminate wear on the chute at its discharge end,a liner 19 is provided shaped to follow the contour of the chute, havingits lower extremity 20 bent over in a return bend to engage the chute,the upper end of said liner formed to extend up inside the chute as faras the spacing bracket, the upper extremity of said liner being bentoutwardly at right angles forming a flange 21. Slots 22 are formed inthe rear wall of said chute, and said spacing bracket, and a lip 23 isformed on said spacing bracket, said slots and lip being formed toaccommodate said flange 21 on said liner, said flange 21 being adaptedto project through said slots, and to be secured to said lip 23 by bolts24.

In operation, a plurality of chutes 7 are detachably secured to the sidewalls 2 of a gondola by the hanger brackets 10 and held in position bythe spring books 17, a chute being so constructed that tie plates willbe discharged underneath the floor of the gondola on the road bedbetween the rails.

As many as four chutes could be placed on each side of a gondola, thechutes being made of a suflicient size to receive tie plates withoutjamming, and in this connection, I have found that a box section 13inches by 3 inches is the most suitable size.

While one arrangement only of attaching means for the chute has beendescribed and disclosed in the drawings (i.e.) the attaching means for agondola car, it will be readily seen that by the exercise of expectedmechanical skill, my improved chute attaching means could be modified toinclude attaching means for the door frames of a box car, or for thestakes, or stake brackets of a flat car.

Without further detailed description, it will be seen that I haveprovided a tie plate chute of sturdy yet simple construction, which isinexpensive to manufacture, having few parts to get out of order, andwhich are readily replaceable if damaged or worn, the chute also beingeflicient in operation.

Other changes and modifications in the form and relative parts, whichwill be apparent to those skilled in the art, may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, as set forth inthe appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A portable chute for railway cars comprising a tubular chute formounting on the side wall of the railway car having its lower end curvedinwardly and extending beneath the bottom of the car, brackets attachedto the sides of the chute adjacent its upper end and projecting adaptedto engage over the upper edge of the side wall of the railway car, andcoil springs having one end attached to the sides of said chute andtheir opposite ends to the lower edge of, the side wall of the railwaycar yieldably holding said hooks in engagement with the wall of therailway car and the chute invertical position.

2. A portable chute of the character described in claim 1 including, aspacing bracket at-tachedto the sides of the chute intermediate itslength and projecting laterally from the chute for contact engagementwith the side wall of the railway car.

3. A portable chute for railway cars comprising a tubular chute formounting on the side wall of the railway car having its lower end curvedinwardly and extending beneath the bottom of the car, the curved end ofsaid chute being open at the top, means at the upper end of said chutefor suspending the chute from the upper edge of the side wall of therailway car, and a liner strip for covering the bottom wall of thecurved end of said chute having one end reversely bent to provide a hookfor engagement over the free end of the bottom wall, said stripextending upwardly in the chute and having its upper end bent at anangle for engagement in a slot formed in the wall of the chute wherebythe liner is removably held in position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS195,989 Culver Oct. 9, 1877 511,332 Harris Dec. 26, 1893 854,249 SpurlinMay 21, 1907 990,555 Hitchcock Apr. 25, 1911 1,177,371 Watts Mar. 28,1916 1,747,752 Brandt Feb. 18, 1930 2,705,144 Ridgway Mar. 29, 1955

